After graduating from Biola University with a B.S. in nursing in 1982, Fonda spent approximately six years living overseas in ministry to Muslims in Morocco, Jordan and France. After returning to the U.S., she pursued a M.A. in counseling at Western Seminary, graduating with honors in 1996. She worked in a variety of counseling internships in order to obtain a broad clinical experience. She obtained her MFT license in 2002.
Fonda worked for 5 years as a case worker and therapist at Advent Group Ministries ministries, a group home program for adolescents in recovery from addiction. She is familiar with the dynamics of addictive families. She works with adult children of alcoholics/addicts as well.
She worked for two years in a community-based program with EMQ Children and Family Services, with children and adolescents in high-risk family situations, working with the family and the legal system to prevent placement failure and to assist the children involved to thrive. And she worked for two years as a high school counselor with troubled teens.
Additionally, Fonda worked for three years in the Child Psychiatry Department at Kaiser Permanente, providing treatment and case management in collaboration with psychiatrists for children needing medical treatment for psychiatric disorders, including: attention and focus deficits (ADHD), depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Aspergers Syndrome, and learning disorders, etc. With a nursing background, she is comfortable working with children and adults who are under the care of a psychiatrist/physician for medication needs.
Most recently, she worked at Link Care Center for four years, providing therapy and case management to missionaries and pastors’ families. She has a particular appreciation for the unique dynamics of ministry families, being a former missionary, and having worked with people who are in ministry locally and all over the world. She enjoys working with adult MK’s/TCK’s as well.
As a follower of Christ, Fonda considers her worldview to be “theocentric”, i.e. God is central to the way she lives her life, which includes her approach to therapy. However, she does not generally provide Scripture during therapy sessions. Many people have been wounded in the Church or by Christians, or have distorted beliefs that influence the way they understand Scripture. Simply providing Scripture runs the risk of reinforcing the distortions in a person’s understanding of God or of Scripture. Fonda incorporates the timeless truth of biblical principles as she works to assist clients toward healing and wholeness. One anticipated outcome is that the grid through which a person experiences God and His word becomes clearer, allowing the person to experience a more emotionally healthy spirituality.